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Archive for March, 2011

The site is a ten acre swamp in Newton, MA of which only 1/8 of an acre is “buildable” by right. All construction materials were taken in by hand along a dirt path to minimize site disturbance. The Swamp Hut has no vehicular access.

Idea
The Swamp Hut is designed to sit lightly upon the land. Four huts surround a central deck creating a protective enclosure. Each building component has distinct characteristics appropriate to its use.

Construction : The Swamp Hut is constructed of standard framing stock with nominal sizes to minimize waste. Huts measure 8’ x 12’. The central deck is 14’ x 14’. Trusses are 12’ high and are constructed of 2” x 4” members. The Swamp Hut is designed to be prefabricated.

For the Kaohsiung Port Terminal, we propose a dynamic 3-dimensional urbanism that takes advantage of the site’s unique lateral positioning with respect to the city grid. Existing public pedestrian flows along the proposed elevated boardwalk can be amplified, rather than interrupted by creating a continuous elevated public esplanade along the waterfront. Cruise and ferry functions, meanwhile, are located just below the public level and are kept distinct to maintain secure areas for departing/arriving passengers.

A private island in the Turks and Caicos is being transformed into a laboratory of contemporary architecture by visionaries Zaha Hadid, Shigeru Ban, David Chipperfield, Carl Ettensperger, Kengo Kuma, Chad Oppenheim and Piero Lissoni. Oppenheim was selected as one of 7 architects to create a series of villas for the Mandarin Oriental Group.

Kindergarten Kekec is an extension of a typical Slovene prefab kindergarten from the 1980s. Situated in one of Ljubljana’s residential areas, Kekec answers the growing demand for kindergartens. This comes as a result of Ljubljana having witnessed considerable population growth as well as legislative changes and a planned increase in building density inside the highway ring surrounding the city.

CK Designworks was appointed by the Nanjing Pukou regional government of the People’s Republic of China in August 2010 to carry out a strategic master plan of approximately 20 square kilometres of residential, commercial, industrial and rural land. The objective of the study was to investigate the creation of a “Hi Tech Zone” and build upon and upgrade the basic framework of some existing buildings in the area.

Umeå School of Architecture has a unique location by Umeå River. With its interior landscape of open floor levels and sculpturally shaped stairs, the building has a strong artistic expression. As a growth centre for future architecture, the main function of the building is to provide the framework for inspiration and innovation. From the outside, the building has a cubic expression with its larch facades and square windows placed in a vibrant, rhythmic sequence on all sides. The interior space of the building is designed as a dynamic sequence of stairs and split, open floor levels where abstract, white boxes hang freely from the ceiling filtering the light coming in through the high skylights.

Umeå School of Architecture by Henning Larsen Architects - Photo by Åke E son Lindman

In recent years, the market for student housing has become increasingly competitive, with design-savvy, environmentally-sensitive students choosing between a variety of on- and off-campus living options. The Modules is a 160-bed, 80,000-square-foot building on a half-acre site near Temple University in Philadelphia. The project responds to an emerging student housing market around the Temple campus as the school transitions from a commuter school to a residential institution.

This 14 roomed boutique hotel by activate architects (Edward Paes-Brooks & Michael Magner makes an important contribution to the architecture of the post apartheid period through the exemplary ways it explores two architectural themes – firstly the relationship between architecture and landscape, a preoccupation of a number of other buildings completed since 1994, and secondly, the relationship between architecture and iconography, also a frequently rehearsed theme.

Bodegas Portia is a new winery for the Faustino Group in the Ribera del Duero, one of Spain’s foremost wine-producing regions. The project is Foster + Partners first winery and was an opportunity to look afresh at the building type, using the natural topography of the site to aid the winemaking process and create the optimum working conditions, while reducing the building’s energy demands and its visual impact on the landscape.

The concept of the Haeundae Udong project is to build a powerful and unique icon expressed in a dynamic volume on the Busan waterfront. Studio Daniel Libeskind will produce five new towers sculpted to express the dramatic beauty and power of the ocean. The curvilinear geometry of the buildings plays with concepts of traditional Korean architecture, often derived from natural beauty such as the grace of an ocean wave, the unique composition of a flower petal, or the wind-filled sails of a ship. Upon completion it will be the tallest residential building in Asia.